However, the analysis process was similar for all data. To obtain an overall sense of the data and the content of the interviews the texts were read several times (24). The most important decision in the analysis – the selection of textual units for analysis – was guided by the aim of the study. In this study, the selected textual units were every communicative act in which the DNs narrated experiences of using ICT to communicate with people with chronic illness. Each textual unit was then condensed, i.e. the textual unit was shortened while still preserving the core (22). Next, the condensed textual units were coded and a pattern of preliminary categories started to emerge from the data. The next step in the analysis was to read the transcribed data and the preliminary categories again to obtain an understanding of the DNs’ experiences of using ICT to communicate with people with chronic illness. After that, the preliminary categories were subsumed into final categories based on similarities and differences in content. The final categories were then compared to identify themes, i.e. threads of meaning that appeared in several categories (25) and two themes, one for preimplementation and another for postimplementation were formulated